Number of Slovak Romanies asking for asylum growing

The number of Slovak Romanies who are asking for asylum in the Czech Republic is growing, the daily Pravo writes.

While 137 asylum applications were registered last year, the figure was 631 for the first nine months of this year, according to an Interior Ministry report drafted for the government, the paper says.

The ministry warns in the report that Czech Romany families who accept their relatives from Slovakia have found themselves in a difficult financial situation. The migration also has a negative income on crime rate and could lead to social instability in certain localities, according to the report.

"There can soon happen that the Czech environment will no longer be able to absorb the migration," Interior Minister Frantisek Bublan said.

He based his remarks on the findings of the system of early warming that was established for the event of a sudden increase in the numbers of migrants from Slovakia to the Czech Republic, Pravo says.

vv/dr

EDITORIAL COMMENT:But, according to the European Union, who accepted the Slovak Republic in the same way as the Czech Republic, all in hunky-dory as regards to Human Rights and Gypsies in those two countries, because, let's face it, there are also many problems for Gypsies in the Czech lands. So, why doe they all flee the Slovak Republic if all is well, as the EU agreed when letting Slovakia become a member state?